A World of What Ifs
by CrisisChild
Summary: A series of drabbles based on the possible paths the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth could have and already have taken. AUs that range from plausible to completely implausible.
1. What Might Have Been

**Title:** A World of What Ifs

**Author:** CrisisChild

**Summary:** A series of drabbles based on the possible paths the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth could have and already have taken. AUs that range from plausible to completely implausible.

**Rated:** K+

**Beta'd:** Nope

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cloud or Sephiroth or the wonderful compilation that they came from.

**What Might Have Been**

_Father and Son_

Sephiroth was most likely the last person anyone would ever consider to be a father.

However, there he was a father at the age of nineteen. Much too young to be a parent by most people's standards, but he did not mind. The Great Sephiroth was never one to be conventional, by any means.

The small tuft of downy hair atop his son's head was as soft as a newborn chicobo's and he couldn't help the small tug at the corner of his lips at the comparison. The soft strands were so wispy under his touch. It felt so unreal. Was it just a dream that he was here in this clinic all the way out in the middle of nowhere, looking down at a child so fair he almost looked to be made of glass?

Sephiroth was naturally pale, but the boy obviously inherited his mother's smooth, snow white complexion indigenous to the mountainous region of Nibelheim. The bright golden hair sticking out at all directions also belonged to the lovely Claire Strife, he noted, making his little one all the more like a little chicobo. His little chicobo.

Sentimentality was still very much new to Sephiroth, even after falling for Claire and secretly marrying her when no one looked. The general took every opportunity he could to go visit his wife in Nibelheim, usually under the excuse of a monster infestation that required his expert hand. He was young, still, and Claire was quite a bit older than he, but it did not matter to him. He loved her as a man loved a woman and now, here was the fruits of their love, sleeping quietly next to his mother.

"He's so beautiful," whispered the silver-haired general. He caressed the child's brow tenderly, smiling as the baby wriggled in response to his touch. Sephiroth felt slightly alarmed that he had roused the child was his sleep, but his heart warmed as cat-like blue eyes stared up at him for the first time.

"Would you like to hold him?" Claire asked. She picked up their son, carefully cradling his tiny form in her arms as if she had done it a million times before. The blonde set the baby in his inexperienced arms; Sephiroth felt oddly foolish holding the child, but the initial awkwardness that he felt vanished as he became more accustomed to holding the little chicobo that was his son. Some of Sephiroth's long silver hair slipped over his shoulder as he looked down at the boy, touching the child's face and tickling him. He made an odd little sound and smiled for the first time. A toothless, happy little grin.

"He has your smile, Claire," Sephiroth mentioned absently to his wife. He sat himself on her bed, holding the baby close. He smiled and placed a tender kiss on the child's brow, his heart swelling with more emotion with each passing moment. Smiling again, the baby grabbed a fistful of his father's hair and started sucking on it. Chuckling softly, Sephiroth gently tugged the lock of hair out of his son's mouth.

Claire smiled as she watched the two of them. "He's saying 'hello', Sephiroth," she supplied.

"Oh, really?" Holding his son closer to him, he kissed his son's forehead.

"Hello to you, too, Cloud."


	2. What Could Have Been

**Title:** A World of What Ifs

**Author:** CrisisChild

**Summary:** A series of one-shots based on the possible paths the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth could have and already have taken. AUs that range from plausible to completely implausible.

**Rated:** K+

**Beta'd:** Nope

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cloud or Sephiroth or the wonderful compilation that they came from.

**What Could Have Been**

_Brothers_

Sephiroth could have left any time he wanted, he rationalized whilst pacing like a trapped animal within his private quarters. The place was expansive with tall ceilings and all the trappings of an expensive penthouse suite, but a cage was a cage no matter how ornate and gilded. Or the distance, for that matter. Yes, he could leave any time, but what stopped him? Certainly not ShinRa's military might, for he could level whole platoons in one swoop of his infamous Masamune. No, no...that wasn't it. That wasn't it _at all_.

His departure could be as abrupt as anything; no word was needed. He could simply take the steps beyond this room he felt trapped within and simply _go_. But that would be incredibly selfish, would it not? Dropping all of responsibilities, leaving behind his comrades in arms – his _friends_. The only family he'd ever known.

Sentimentality was unbecoming of him and his sense of duty would be his demise, Sephiroth was sure.

His shackles were not of iron, but flesh and bone, of something incorporeal.

A long, long time ago the science department had thought to give him a pet of sorts, to see how he would fare in a social setting. Of course, things were not as they appeared, for the 'pet' he was given was nothing more than a boy that seemed a decade his junior. Lost and confused, the orphan boy had been fearful of Sephiroth of whom had little interest in interacting with the tiny thing that had been left with him. However, despite himself, the two had bonded in ways the general had not thought possible.

That pet soon became a little brother and that little brother soon became his entire world. His reason for staying so closely to the company he so hated and despised. Sephiroth had all the power in the world to crush nations and fend for himself, but in this one thing he could not remiss. Cloud needed him still.

The phone rang and the silver-haired man quickly swept up the device from its cradle.

"Sephiroth," he intoned, voice level and not at all shaking.

"Just checking up on you. Have you been eating? You looked pretty thin last I saw you," came Angeal's voice over the phone.

**He'd been planning to leave for a while now, unable to take it anymore.**

"I'm fine," tersely replied the general. "How is he? Has his condition improved?"

**He'd steal away those closest to him. They could have settled or been on the run forever – whatever it took to be free.**

"He's stable, Sephiroth." A pregnant pause, obviously the other SOLDIER was taking his time to collect his thoughts before expressing himself. "Sephiroth...it's been _five months_. The doctors say that after three it'd be impossible for him to wake up-"

"I** DON'T CARE.**" And there, the silver's voice cracked as his fist slammed into the table. With a resounding crack the piece of furniture was split in twain, crumbling into a heap at his feet. Groaning in frustration, a hand grasped at his long locks and tugged viciously. He couldn't take it. _He couldn't take it_.

**Because everything precious was always taken away from him.**

"I just..." Sentimentality. Vulnerability. Sadness, regret and loneliness. He didn't need or want any of those things, but he felt these emotions in droves and waves. The man was drowning in his sorrow caused by those who had raised him since his awful birth. "As long as there's a chance...any chance..."

He would stay.

His world revolved around Cloud. Around his schooling, his hobbies, his joys and moments of weakness. Whether he was happy spending time with him or whether or not he needed someone to help him chase his loneliness away or go after his dreams. Yes, Cloud had said he wanted to join SOLDIER one day. Sephiroth had hoped against hope itself to see that dream come true; Cloud's dreams were his own. They were family and he'd never known such exquisite happiness until the blond boy had fallen into his lap via chance.

Or maybe not chance at all.

A bond as strong as this was easily a shackle as it could be the strongest link in a chain. And with this Sephiroth remained bound to ShinRa, as long as there was a chance their medical staff could save the boy from the folly he had fallen into.

A mako induced coma. How could he have known Cloud would react so poorly to it?

"...Do you want to come see him?" Angeal asked after a prolonged silence.

Sephiroth said nothing, just hung up the phone. Then he resumed his pacing.

No, he did not deserve to face Cloud. Not until he woke up. Not until Sephiroth figured out how to get the two of them away from ShinRa's thumb.

Not until Sephiroth could find a way for the both of them to be free.


End file.
